Brings up to 200 jobs

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – A new company is heading for Alpharetta, and bringing with it potentially hundreds of jobs.

Halyard Health, Inc., is a spin-off from health giant Kimberly-Clark. The announcement came that the new company headquarters would be based near Kimberly-Clark’s Roswell campus, in neighboring Alpharetta.

Incoming CEO of Halyard, Robert Abernathy, said the decision was made to stay close to the Roswell campus of Kimberly-Clark.

“Alpharetta allows us to stay close to the community and reduces the impact of a commute on our employees,” Abernathy said. “We have been in this area for over 30 years and are proud to be part of the community here in Georgia.”

Halyard will set up shop in a 240,872- square foot vacant building on the corner of Windward parkway and Westside Parkway, close to the intersection with Ga. 400. They will move in December 2014.

Once the planned spin-off is completed later this year, Halyard Health will be a stand-alone public company and is expected to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The company already generates approximately $1.7 billion in annual net sales, has leading market positions in both surgical and infection prevention products and medical devices and employs approximately 16,500 employees worldwide.

Abernathy said plans were still being drawn up for the new headquarters, but he expected between 150-200 new jobs to be created over the next two years in areas such as information technology, finance, procurement and human resources.

Halyard is already one of the leading producers of health-related equipment, dominating the market in enteral feeding, sterilization wrap, face masks, surgical pain pumps and global suction catheters.

“Halyard Health will look to maintain market leadership and further grow these businesses while identifying, developing and pursuing new opportunities,” Abernathy said.

The company already has a large presence in the sterilization and creation of health products and procedures.